Jess Teesdale (Bass, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing. What action is the Albanese Labor government taking to help first home buyers into a home of their own? What approaches will make this harder for young Australians to get into homeownership?

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank—

Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Cowper, the minister had not begun even saying something, and you started interjecting. I'm just going to ask the House, for everyone, for both sides, when a minister begins, we're not having this. We'll reset, and the minister will begin her answer.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the fantastic member for Bass for her question, and what a great contribution she is making, representing her community in this parliament. Today the parliament has a very important bill before it, a bill that will deliver a tax cut for every single working Australian and a bill that will level the playing field for Australia's first home buyers. Twenty-seven years ago, Prime Minister John Howard and this parliament created a housing market in our country that preferences investors over first home buyers. And today, as a parliament, we have an opportunity to make a different choice for our country, because we know the results of John Howard's experiment. Investors flooded into established housing. House prices have gone up by 400 per cent. Homeownership rates for young people across this country have fallen through the floor.

The bill that's before the parliament asks us a big question: What kind of country do we want to be? Do we want to be a nation where hard work and aspiration get rewarded, or do we want to be a country where getting into a home of your own depends on the property wealth you inherited from your parents? Labor believes in an Australia where ordinary people can get ahead through their own effort. That's why we're giving first home buyers a fair shot, and that's why we're delivering a tax cut for every single working Australian.

I'm asked about alternatives. The three right-wing parties have a big choice to make this afternoon. With all the cost-of-living challenges facing this country, are they seriously going to come into the parliament and vote against a tax cut for every single worker in this country? Are they seriously going to come into the parliament and say, 'We don't want our housing system to change'? That's what this is about. Do we want our housing system to be fairer and more equal, or do we want to retain the broken system?

We are a Labor government. We believe that Australia works best when effort and aspiration are rewarded. Helping more Australians buy their own home is not just central to our vision for housing; it is central to our vision for Australia. That's what the bill today is about—building a country where your success comes not from the wealth you inherit, not from the family that you come from, but from the work that you do yourself. In our government, we believe that aspiration belongs to every person who lives in this country.